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(No M0661 H, POULE.

FIRE ESCAPE; No. 295,278. Patented Mar. 18, 1884.

WITNESSES; INVENTOR:

I, J\- I jaw/ BY C ATTORNEYS.

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Parent @rrrcn HENRY POOLE, or now YORK, n. Y.

FlRE-ESCAPE.

sPncrFIcA'iIoN forming part of Letters Patent N0. 295,278, dated March 18, 1884.

Application filed June 1, 1883. (No model.)

To [:15 when), may concern-.-

Be it known that I, HENRY POOLE, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented anew and Improved Combined Fire- Escape and Ladder, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in fire-escapes; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter. fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention as it appears when ready to be taken to or from the fire, one of the wheels of the main truck being removed; and Fig. 2 is a front elevation, showing the ladder as it appears when extended for use, with the main truck resting upon the small trucks.

The main truck consists of the axle A, wheels 13 B, and handles 0 C. To the axle A is secured, by any suitable means, the lower section, D, of the ladder; The upper section, B, of the ladder is provided with the clawplates 6 e, which fit upon the flanges (Z (2, formed upon or secured to the lower section, D, and this upper section, E, is adapted to be elevated for extending; the ladder by the ropes a a, that pass over the pulleys b I), secured, respectively, to the upper and lower ends of the sectionsD E.

f f are cleats secured to the upper side of the handles 0 0 of the truck, to which the ropes a a may be tied, for holding the section E elevated, ready for use.

F is the chute, of canvas or other suitable material, secured so as to stand back of the sections D E.- This may be secured at its edges to the ladder in any suitable manner; but I prefer to secure it by means of the loops or snaphooks c c, that are buckled or otherwise secured. to the ed gcs of the canvas and pass over or snap upon the rods 9 g, secured, respectively, at their ends to the sides of the sections D E of the ladder, the upper end of the canvas being secured to the section E by the loops or snap-hooks c? c, that pass through the metal staples c c", secured by any suitable means to the top of the section E.

7 To the lower end of the section E, at the outside thereof, are secured the headed studs hi1, with which the upper ends of the props G G areadapted to engage for bracing the ladder when in position for use, as will be understood from F'i 2. For convenience in putting the props G Gin place upon the knobs h h, with the lower ends of the props resting upon the ground or pavement, I provide them at their upper ends with the U-ironsi i, which fit over the knobs, and I form each of these U-irons at one side with the books i, that are adapted to be placed over a round of the ladder, for can rying the props, as will be understood from Fig. 1.

H H are the small four-wheeled trucks, on which the wheels B 13 of the main truck may be placed for shifting the ladder sidewise from window to window of a burning building. The upper surfaces of the trucks are formed with concaved grooves j j, for receiving the wheels 13 B, and are formed or provided upon each, side of the grooves with the vertical eyeplates 75 It, through which the bolts Z Z are adapted to be passed over the fellies of the wheels 13 B, for locking them to and upon the to the handles 0 0 some distance back of the axle A, so that these trucks may be carried by the main truck above the ground or pavement, and so that they may also serve as counter weights to the ladder D E, balancing the device in such manner that it may be easily moved over the ground or pavement from place to place by hand. The lower section, D, of the ladder is braced from the handles 0 O of the truck by the brace-rods 12 ,3), so that in moving the ladder from place to place and in elevating the section E the ladder will be held firm and rigid, and these braces p, in connection with the props G G, which will be put in place under the knobs h 11, immediately after the section Eis elevated and the ladder leanedagainst the building, render the ladder sufiiciently sons to and from the burning building.

In use, the device having been brought to the fire, the section E of the ladder will first be elevated by drawing down upon and securtrucks H H, and each of the trucks H H is provided at one side with a ring, ill, by which it may be attached to the hooks o 0, attached strong for the safe ascent and descent of per- IOO ing the ropes a a. The ladder will then be I moved up to and leaned against the building. Then the wheels 13 B of the main truck will be placed upon and secured to the small trucks, H H, and then the props G G will be put in place for bracing the ladder. In elevating the section E of the ladder, it will be seen that the upper end of the canvas F will also be raised, constituting a continuous chute from the top of the ladder to the ground or pavement, down which persons from the burning building may safely slide. In this manner it will be seen that at the same time the ladder is being elevated and put in place against the building an efficient and safe fire-escape is also provided without loss of time and without extra attention, and it is designed that when in use a fireman shall stand at the top of the ladder and cause the inmates of the building to descend the fire-escape, thus avoiding all danger of overloading and breaking the ladder, and it is also designed to place at the bottom of the fireescape canvas a mattress, on which the persons descending may land without bodily harm.

It will be understood that the canvas chute F may be applied to any form of firemans ladder and not depart from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with a ladder provided with rods secured to its sides and staples at its upper end, of the chute F and the loops 0 a, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The combination, with a two-wheeled truck having a ladder secured to the axle thereof, of the four-wheeled trucks H H, for shifting the truck and ladder sidewise, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The handles 0 O of the two-Wheeled ladder-truck, provided with the hooks 0 0, in combination with the four-wheeled trucks HH, adapted to be hooked thereon to be carried by the main truck, and to serve as counter-weights to the ladder, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the section D of a ladder, of the U-shaped irons having hooks i, substantially as herein shown and described.

HENRY POOLE.

\Vitnesses: H. A. WEsT,

O. Snncwick. 

